Bryan Salmons is a native of Mt. Sterling, Kentucky. He earned his B.A. in English and Allied Language Arts at Western Kentucky University in 1992, an M.A. in English at Western in 1994, and a Ph.D. in 20th Century American Literature at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 2006. His dissertation was a comparative study of Eliot's The Waste Land and Robert Frost's New Hampshire. He was a lecturer in literature and language at Missouri University of Science and Technology from 2002 to 2009 before becoming Assistant Professor at Lincoln University. He is currently Associate Professor of English and Chair of the Department of English, Foreign Languages, and Journalism at Lincoln. Dr. Salmons' most recent scholarly presentations include examinations of the intersection of neuroscientific studies and literature, the decline of the humanities in the contemporary university, and T.S. Eliot's syntactical prosody. Bryan resides in Wardsville, Missouri with his wife Sarah and two children, Ben and Grace. Contact: MLK Hall 120, 573-681-5234.salmonsb@lincolnu.edu

Elijah Burrell is the author of one collection of poems, titled The Skin of the River (Aldrich Press, 2014). His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in publications such as Birmingham Poetry Review, Iron Horse Literary Review, Measure, Sugar House Review, Structo, and many others. He received the 2010 Jane Kenyon Scholarship at Bennington College. His poem "Bones" was recently featured in audio form on Sugar House Review's podcast. Not long ago, two of his poems were featured on The Missouri Review's audio podcast. He resides in Jefferson City, Missouri, with his wife and two daughters, and teaches creative writing and literature at Lincoln University. For more information, visit http://www.elijahburrell.com/ Contact: MLK Hall 431, 573-681-5203. BurrellE@lincolnu.edu

Will Sites is an assistant professor of journalism at LU. He is a Missouri native and 20-year veteran of the news trade, including extensive duties as a reporter, photojournalist, editor, newspaper owner and online entrepreneur. His interests include drone journalism, media convergence, disruptive innovation, media law, and website usability. He currently holds an FAA Part 107 drone pilot license and teaches drone journalism in the newsroom and senior capstone class. Sites earned his M.A. from the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno, with an emphasis in environmental journalism and digital media. He teaches news reporting/writing, media law, history of journalism, online media, public relations, editing, drone journalism, and oversees the campus news website (www.myclarionnews.com). Contact 573-681-5805 or sitesw@lincolnu.edu.

Jane Frazier holds the Ph.D. (1992) from the University of Mississippi. She also holds an M.A. (1986) from the University of Mississippi, an M.B.A. (1983) from Millsaps College, and a B.S. (1981) from Northeast Louisiana University. She is the author of the 1999 critical book From Origin to Ecology: Nature and the Poetry of W. S. Merwin, by Associated University Presses. She is also the author of several articles on W. S. Merwin and American Indian studies. Recently, she has been a regular contributor to the international W. S. Merwin website as well as a book reviewer for The Literary Review. She has published poetry in over 20 literary journals including Prism International and Orbis. Dr. Frazier teaches Composition, Survey of American Literature, Introduction to Literature, Modern Poetry, and Romantic Poetry. She attends conferences and gives presentations for such organizations as the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment and the Oxford Round Table. Contact: MLK Hall 422, 573-681-5235. frazierj@lincolnu.edu

Jessie Adolph received his BA in English with a minor in Africana Studies from Central Missouri State University, May 2005, where he participated in the McNair Scholarship program. His undergraduate thesis, "Bronzeville: The Chicago Renaissance," was presented at two research conferences. In addition, he was invited to participate in the SREB: Compact for Minority Scholars and Future Faculty Members in Miami, Florida. In 2003, Jessie had an original poem published in Spokenvizions magazine, which is distributed in St. Louis and surrounding areas. In 1999, he was invited to perform original spoken word poetry at the Missouri Black Expo. Currently, Jessie is interested in African American literature (the Black Arts Movement in particular) and its influence on Hip Hop and spoken-word poetry. In 2005, Jessie received the Kenneth Davis Folklore Award for his essay entitled "The Influence of Black Sermonic Discourse on Black Arts Movement and the Hip-hop Generation." He received his MA from MU in 2009. Moreover, Jessie has presented at the Black Graduate Student Conference in Chicago in 2009 where he presented a paper entitled "Sankofic Rememorization" which centers on hip hop poets utilize motifs from slave and post slavery oral traditions to reverse the western gaze of othering. Currently, Jessie is a PhD Candidate at the University of Missouri-Columbia working on a dissertation that centers on fatherhood narratives in hip hop lyricism. Moreover, Jessie Adolph is proud to be a part of the Lincoln University family where he serves an Instructor of English. Contact: MLK Hall 433, 573-681-5273. AdolphJ@lincolnu.edu

Nick Straatmann has been teaching since 2009. He received his master's degree in Language Arts Education in 2010. He has taught at every level of education from middle school to the university level and presented professional development sessions on rubric design and lesson planning at multiple events. His personal interests include writing and reading. Contact: MLK Hall 127, 573-681-5232. StraatmannN@lincolnu.edu

Michelle Wilson earned a B.S.Ed. and M.Ed. in English education and is a writing instructor at Lincoln University. Employed with the University since 1998, she has coordinated an academic support center and briefly worked as an academic advisor. Originally from West Plains, Mo., she currently resides in Holts Summit, Mo., with her husband David. Contact: MLK Hall 125, 573-681-5969. WilsonM@lincolnu.edu

Matt McGraw is an assistant professor of British literature at Lincoln University. He earned his Ph.D. in medieval and Early Modern English literature from the University of California Riverside, his M.A. in English literature from the University of Missouri St. Louis, and his B.A. in English from Cornell College. His current research interests involve an examination of the relationship between humanity, the material world, and the magical or the divine in medieval and Early Modern culture. Contact: MLK Hall 421, 573-681-5796. McGrawM@lincolnu.edu

John Shelby is assistant professor of journalism at LU. Before academia, he spent 23 years as a broadcast news journalist. His career took him from Washington State to New York State where he worked in front of and behind the camera. He spent his last 13 years as news director. Shelby earned his B.A. in Communications from the University of Missouri and an M.A. in Communications Management from Webster University in St. Louis. In addition, Shelby is a graduate of the leadership program at the Poynter Institute, a global leader in journalism. He teaches broadcast news best practices, ethics, writing, reporting, anchoring, producing, videography, editing and all other aspects of working in a modern newsroom. Contact 573-681-5804 or ShelbyJ@LincolnU.edu.

‪Daren Dean is an assistant professor of English (Creative Writing Specialist in Fiction) at Lincoln University. He is the author of the novel Far Beyond the Pale. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Louisiana Literature, Maryland Literary Review, Red Dirt Forum, BULL (Men's Fiction), Midwestern Gothic, The Green Hills Literary Lantern, The Oklahoma Review, Fiction Southeast, StorySouth, and elsewhere. His story "Bring Your Sorrow Over Here" was selected as Runner-up by Judge George Singleton in Yemassee's William Richey Short Fiction contest. His favorite unofficial title comes from Robert Olen Butler who wrote, "Dean writes like the laureate of fallen angels." He holds an MFA from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. In the past, he's worked in academic publishing at the University of Missouri Press, and taught in the English department at LSU for several years. ‬